SNOWDEN HOUSEHOLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18901, 28 October 1929, Page 12

SNOWDEN HOUSEHOLD.

AN INTERESTING GLIMPSE. Air Philip Snowden, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his wife havelately been among the most-talked-of figures in Britain. They were playing the centrol role in the recent War Debts Conference drama at The Hague. Yet how many people, remarks a correspondent of the “Sunday Express,” know the intimate history of this frail, brilliant little man, and the part played by a proud, brave wife, who hails from Yorkshire? Mrs Philip Snowden made a notable remark at The Hague Conference. It was this: “If you think my husband’s firmness is bluff, you do not know a Yorkshireman.” That remark, which has been quoted all over Europe—all over the world—shows a great woman in her true colours. Air Snowden would be the first man in Britain to testify to the greatnes c of wives in general—because of his own wife. When he was twenty-two years old he had an accident on a bicycle that made him a cripple for life. His present ability to stand the great strain of a politcial career was made possible for him by twenty years of ceaseless thought for him, of loving care for his physical welfare on the part of his wife* who gave up her own career to share his. Airs Snowden is tall, rather sturdily built. The Snowdens’ home, Ed an Lodge, near Farnham, in Surrey, reflects her personality in every room. Everywhere there are photographs. On the study mantelpiece there is a picture of Mrs Snowden, which dominates the room. Beside it is a picture of Siegfried Sassoon, the poet. The walls are lined, with books. Everywhere in Mr Sndwden’s study there are little photographs of his wife, snap shots and pictures at one time of her life or another, to support that noble picture that seems to brood over the room. In this study Mrs Snowden has played the part of her husband’s secretary, typed his letters, taken down his dictation, just as she has thought out his meals and ordered them in the kitchen at the back of the house. The drawing-room is Airs Snowden’s room. It is full of books. Like those in the study, hundreds of them are political. Here is more poetry, and many modern novels. It is in this room that she keeps the shelves of music that are the collection of her lifetime; a piano that is her greatest pleasure. The dominant note in Airs Snowden’s room is made by two autographed photographs of the King and Queen. It is a plain-living household at Eden Lodge. Air Philip Snowden is a world figure, but within these walls he is known as a man with the plainest tastes in food and drink, whose favourite treat is “open jam tart,” of which he has been known to eat “nearly a whole one” by himself, to ‘.he ioy of the cook who made it, for Air Snowden is greatly loved by his small menage. The neighbourhood sees little of the Snowdens, but Air Lloyd George lives only a few miles away, and visits are constantly exchanged between the two families. There is a story that, during Mr Snowden’s first tenure of control of the Exchequer in 1924, a notable visitor sought an interview with him. “I am afraid you cannot see them today,” said a tactful secretary. “They are busy preparing the Budget.” “Oh, and who may they be?” inquired the visitor. “Why, Air and Airs Snowden,” was the reply.